Politique nationale du Conseil agrosylvopastoral et halieutique : Le Sénégal accélère la structuration du secteur
Senegal wants to take a new step in modernizing its agriculture with the development of a national policy for the Agro-Sylvo-Pastoral and Fisheries Council (CASPH).
Gathered at a national workshop, industry stakeholders discussed the challenges, strategic directions and mechanisms for structuring the advisory system designed to better support producers.
Despite existing initiatives, Senegal still lacks a clearly defined framework for organizing the provision of agricultural, forestry, livestock, and fisheries advisory services. The multitude of stakeholders—public institutions, NGOs, farmers' organizations, and technical partners—along with the diversity of approaches used, makes the service offerings difficult to understand and sometimes ineffective.
This situation poses several major challenges: defining a common vision of agricultural advisory services and recognizing this profession as a fully-fledged occupation; guaranteeing the quality and performance of services provided; strengthening initial and continuing training for advisors; improving governance and coordination between stakeholders; and identifying sustainable financing mechanisms.
Faced with these challenges, the State tasked the National Agency for Agricultural and Rural Advisory Services (ANCAR) with conducting an inclusive review to develop a national policy and strategy for agricultural, forestry, livestock, and fisheries advisory services. The agency serves as the technical arm of the Ministry of Agriculture and works to sustainably improve the productivity and incomes of rural producers.
It was within this framework that ANCAR launched a call for expressions of interest and recruited five consultants with complementary profiles to support policy development. After several consultations with stakeholders in the national agricultural advisory system, a policy framework document outlining the vision and areas of intervention was produced.
The process continued with the organization of local consultations in the country's six agroecological zones. The results of this work served as the basis for the national workshop aimed at finalizing the consultations and developing consensus-based proposals.
The objective of this meeting was, in particular, to inform stakeholders of the progress of the process; to further the diagnosis of the advisory system; to examine and refine the strategic directions; to identify the specific issues to be integrated into the future policy.
The discussions covered several themes, including the governance of the national advisory system, the professionalization of the advisory profession, the financing of the system, research, training, as well as the modernization and digitalization of services.
Agricultural advice: a strategic lever for food sovereignty
According to the Director General of ANCAR, El Hadj Faye, this initiative fulfills a long-standing ambition of the Senegalese state. The agro-sylvo-pastoral and fisheries policy framework law adopted in 2004 already provided for the implementation of a national advisory policy, which has so far remained unrealized.
For him, the council is an essential lever for the sustainable transformation of Senegalese agriculture, particularly in the context of national ambitions for food sovereignty and the Senegal 2050 Vision.
He also emphasizes the importance of strengthening the capacities of producers, structuring farmers' organizations and supporting community agricultural cooperatives.
The work also highlighted the need for more substantial funding for agricultural advisory services, which are often less supported than investments in infrastructure or agricultural inputs. Stakeholders advocated for innovative economic models and a diversification of funding sources.
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